Island Parent Magazine Oct-Nov 2021

Kids’READS
Halloween & Stories
for the Night
After a delightful summer getting
to know my new baby girl, I am
back to reviewing picture books
for you. This time we’re going to enjoy
some spook-tastic stories in honour of
Halloween. I was considering giving
them a scare rating, but that really depends
on your children. For example,
I asked my two sons if they wanted to
hear any of the scary stories and the
oldest one flat out refused because they
were too scary while the younger one
animal or fantasy creature? And what
scares monsters? This hilarious textbook
of Monstronomy is fabulously illustrated
and when you’re done reading it, you
can walk away with a super serious diploma
and the title of monster scientist.
For ages 3 to 7.
One of the first things you should
know about Owling: Enter the World
of the Mysterious Birds of the Night by
Mark Wilson (Storey, 2019) is that the
cover glows in the dark. And if your
you will also be entertained. For ages 8
to 12.
In The Babysitter from Another
Planet by Stephen Savage (Neal Porter
Books, 2019), Mom and Dad go out to
the movies and leave their two children
in the care of an alien. It’s a little weird
at first, but in the end, the two siblings
would never want another babysitter.
This is a good bedtime story for days
when you don’t want to talk because not
every page has words on it, so you can
was super excited and a little upset that
he couldn’t hear these stories every day.
But in case you do have a more easily
frightened child, know that not all
books on this list are scary. In fact, I
would argue that none of them are, but I
will leave that up to you to decide.
In Monsters 101 by Cale Atkinson
(Tundra, 2020) you and your children
can learn everything you ever wanted
to know about monsters: where do they
sleep? What do they like to eat? What
makes a monster a monster instead of an
children love glow-in-the-dark items
the way mine do, that is a huge selling
feature. The next thing you should
know is that the photographs in this
book are stunning. Wilson is a wildlife
photojournalist and he has been caring
for owls and teaching people about
them for more than 25 years. And while
some non-fiction books may be boring
and feel like you are reading a school
textbook, Owling is nothing like that.
Wilson interweaves facts and humour,
so while you will learn a lot about owls,
let them enjoy the images and giggle at
the silly things the babysitter does and
save your voice. For ages 3 to 7.
The Bat (Tundra, 2016) is part of
Elise Gravel’s Disgusting Critters series,
where she teaches children about different
animals or insects with her characteristic
comic book style artwork. In
this short book, children can learn about
echolocation, what the bat’s scientific
name means, how they use their hands
to fly, and many other tiny tidbits. For
ages 3 to 7.
34 Island Parent Magazine IslandParent.ca